How do you find the properties in a person's name by CPF?
Since August 2026, you can enter a CPF or CNPJ (Brazil's individual and company tax IDs) and get back the list of property records (matrículas) tied to that person in registries across the country. The tool is called the National Asset Search (Pesquisa Nacional de Bens) and runs on the RI Digital platform, from the National Operator of the Electronic Real Estate Registry System (ONR) together with Brazil's Real Estate Registry (Registro de Imóveis do Brasil). You enter the ID, select the states you want to search, pay the registry fees and the system runs the sweep — the result can arrive within up to 15 minutes after payment is confirmed, according to the Real Estate Registry (August 2026).
Before this, that kind of search meant going registry by registry, city by city — and it only existed in an organized form in part of the country. What's new is the nationwide reach: the same query now scans the records of Real Estate Registries in every state connected to the system.
What is the National Asset Search?
The National Asset Search is an asset lookup by document. Instead of starting from the property (the registry record) to reach the owner, it goes the other way: it starts from the person (the CPF or CNPJ) and returns the numbers of the property records linked to that document. It's the difference between "who owns this apartment?" and "which properties are tied to this person?".
The service is an evolution of the earlier Prior Search, which already existed but was limited to a group of states. With the nationwide version, Brazil's Real Estate Registry describes the tool as a "national-scope" solution for society, the real estate market and the Judiciary to look up assets tied to a CPF or CNPJ.
How does it work, step by step?
The flow is simple and fully digital, done on RI Digital:
- You enter the CPF or CNPJ you want to look up.
- You select the states where you want to search — the search can be nationwide or focused on a few states.
- You pay the fees (emolumentos) for the service.
- You get the result: the numbers of the property records linked to that document in the connected registries, within up to 15 minutes after payment is confirmed.
The price depends on the states you select and follows each location's fee schedule — which is why there's no single nationwide price.
What is this search useful for?
Searching by CPF or CNPJ answers a question that comes up at several points in a person's financial life:
- Buying and selling (due diligence). Before closing a deal, confirming which properties are actually tied to the seller — and cross-checking that against the record of the property you want to buy.
- Probate. Mapping the real estate left by someone who passed away, including properties in other states the family didn't know about.
- Divorce and asset division. Mapping a couple's assets to divide what needs dividing.
- Debt collection. In court, locating a debtor's properties for attachment — one of the uses Brazil's Real Estate Registry itself highlights.
In all of these cases, the gain is the same: seeing a person's real estate holdings at once, without having to know in advance which registry to search.
Does showing up in the search mean the person owns the property?
Not necessarily — and this is the most important part to understand. A CPF can appear tied to a property record without being the current owner. The tool itself warns that the link may exist because the person is a former owner, a beneficial user (usufructuary), a guarantor, a landlord or is in another legal situation recorded on that property record.
In other words: the National Asset Search is an excellent starting point — it tells you where to look. But who owns the property today, whether there are debts, attachments, a mortgage or restrictive clauses, only the up-to-date property record certificate answers. The search points to the records; reading each record tells the full story.
| The National Asset Search... | ...does it? |
|---|---|
| Lists the records tied to a CPF/CNPJ | Yes |
| Covers registries across the country (connected ones) | Yes |
| Confirms who the current owner is | No |
| Shows the property's debts, attachments and mortgages | No |
| Replaces reading the property record certificate | No |
To understand why the property record is the document that rules, it's worth reading I bought a property and didn't register it. Is it mine? and Deed, registration and ITBI: what's the difference?.
What changes with nationwide reach
Asset searches aren't new; what changed was the scale. By unifying the query at the national level, Brazil's Real Estate Registry turns work that used to be manual — requesting certificates in each location — into a single sweep. For someone handling the probate of a person who lived in different states, or the due diligence of a seller with scattered dealings, this shrinks weeks of digging into a query of minutes. It's one more step in the modernization of Brazil's registry system, which has been digitizing services that once required showing up in person and knowing in advance where to look.
Where Conecta comes in
The National Asset Search tells you where the property records are; Conecta handles what comes next — which is where the risk lives. We read each record, check the property's real situation and carry the deed, the transfer tax (ITBI) and the registration through to the end, turning a list of numbers into a clear diagnosis: who owns it today, what's blocking the transfer and what has to be resolved before signing.
For the buyer, it's the difference between a search that points the way and a professional who walks the way for you. For the developer, it's the post-sale document work that makes sure the deal actually closes — a clean record and registration in the buyer's name, without the complaint about a process that stalled.
Buying, settling an estate or regularizing a property and want certainty when reading the record? Talk to Conecta.
Frequently asked questions
Can anyone search a person's properties by their CPF?
The National Asset Search is a public service, offered by Brazil's Real Estate Registry on the RI Digital platform, and it's available upon payment of the registry fees. The result returns the property records tied to the CPF or CNPJ you enter, in the registries connected to the system.
How much does the National Asset Search cost?
There's no single nationwide price. The cost matches the registry fees of the states you select for the search — which is why the price varies depending on how many and which states you include.
If a property shows up tied to a CPF, does that person own it?
Not necessarily. The link may exist because the person is a former owner, a beneficial user, a guarantor, a landlord or is in another legal situation on the record. To know who the current owner is, you have to read the up-to-date certificate of that property's record.
Does the search show the property's debts and attachments?
No. The National Asset Search lists the records tied to the document, but it doesn't detail each property's situation. Debts, attachments, mortgages and restrictive clauses appear on the property record certificate, which should be consulted next.
Does the search cover all of Brazil?
The reach is nationwide: the search scans the Real Estate Registries of the states connected to the system. Before, the tool covered only part of the country; the nationwide version expands the query to the whole country.